Problems with virtual dub

I'm having trouble with adding permanent .ssa subtitles using virtual dub. It was still working yesterday. I'm sure I followed all the steps in the tutorial. The subs aren't showing up in the converted video. Is it because virtual dub does not read unicode texts? (I had to change the .ssa to unicode b/c there were some kanji characters).

I'm getting so fustrated!

Is there any other program that can add permanent .SSA subtitles other than virtualdub? Does anyone know what the problem is??? scratch

Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 1:34 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Unicode can get messy. Did you use the character set tag for Japanese in SSA previously? That could be your problem. For a line with Japanese text you have to put in the tag for font set for it to be read as Japanese for that line. It should then encode properly and the kanji should show up.

Edit: Oh yeah, after entering the tag you should probably select a font for Japanese text and select Japanese from the drop menu.

When having problems like this it's best to be really specific and post screen caps. To take a screen cap, hit "print-screen" and paste it into an image viewer and save it. Then, you can upload it to an image host like http://imageshack.us and post the image here using the img tags.

Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 1:58 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Not only is the kanji not showing up, but the other eng. sub saren't showing up too...basically nothing is showing up...I'm not sure what you mean by japanese tags, so I posted the lines where I had kanji

Dialogue: Marked=0,0:11:26.67,0:11:29.52,s2s_def_sub_set,,0000,0000,0000,!Effect,{\a2}{\fs22}{\fe0}{\b2}{\i0}{\c&FEF5C7} {\fnArial}気が付けばこんなとこにいた
Dialogue: Marked=0,0:11:30.01,0:11:32.92,s2s_def_sub_set,,0000,0000,0000,!Effect,{\a2}{\fs22}{\fe0}{\b2}{\i0}{\c&FEF5C7} {\fnArial}忘れ物もあった気がするんだ
Dialogue: Marked=0,0:11:33.33,0:11:36.61,s2s_def_sub_set,,0000,0000,0000,!Effect,{\a2}{\fs22}{\fe0}{\b2}{\i0}{\c&FEF5C7} {\fnArial}しゃべる方もどんなだったろう
Dialogue: Marked=0,0:11:39.89,0:11:43.44,s2s_def_sub_set,,0000,0000,0000,!Effect,{\a2}{\fs22}{\fe0}{\b2}{\i0}{\c&B8DFAA} {\fnArial}苦し紛れの事ばっか
Dialogue: Marked=0,0:11:43.44,0:11:46.56,s2s_def_sub_set,,0000,0000,0000,!Effect,{\a2}{\fs22}{\fe0}{\b2}{\i0}{\c&B8DFAA} {\fnArial}今よりマシと言い切った
Dialogue: Marked=0,0:11:47.16,0:11:52.03,s2s_def_sub_set,,0000,0000,0000,!Effect,{\a2}{\fs22}{\fe0}{\b2}{\i0}{\c&B8DFAA} {\fnArial}転がり過ぎて角のないRolling Stone
Dialogue: Marked=0,0:11:52.49,0:12:00.85,s2s_def_sub_set,,0000,0000,0000,!Effect,{\a2}{\fs22}{\fe0}{\b2}{\i0}{\c&FEF5C7} {\fnArial}あいつみたいにうまくは　出来ないさ
Dialogue: Marked=0,0:12:00.85,0:12:08.99,s2s_def_sub_set,,0000,0000,0000,!Effect,{\a2}{\fs22}{\fe0}{\b2}{\i0}{\c&FEF5C7} {\fnArial}明日になれば　どうってことない話
Dialogue: Marked=0,0:12:09.52,0:12:16.49,s2s_def_sub_set,,0000,0000,0000,!Effect,{\a2}{\fs22}{\fe0}{\b2}{\i0}{\c&FEF5C7} {\fnArial}Doctorいつから　もう何にも感じないんだ
Dialogue: Marked=0,0:12:16.75,0:12:23.80,s2s_def_sub_set,,0000,0000,0000,!Effect,{\a2}{\fs22}{\fe0}{\b2}{\i0}{\c&FEF5C7} {\fnArial}ずっとずっと　息切らし　走ってたんだよ
Dialogue: Marked=0,0:12:24.08,0:12:30.32,s2s_def_sub_set,,0000,0000,0000,!Effect,{\a2}{\fs22}{\fe0}{\b2}{\i0}{\c&FEF5C7} {\fnArial}まだ　この体　どれくらいもちそうですか？
Dialogue: Marked=0,0:12:30.49,0:12:37.62,s2s_def_sub_set,,0000,0000,0000,!Effect,{\a2}{\fs22}{\fe0}{\b2}{\i0}{\c&FEF5C7} {\fnArial}もっともっと　行かなきゃならないんだよ

How should I change it to make it work?

Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 2:03 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

The other option to save the file as is ANSI instead of unicode. But then the kanji gets all messed up. In control panel I already added Japanese to my list of languages..but it seems like that only applies to the keyboard.

Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 3:24 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

The {\fe0} is what you have to change. I don't remember what the number is off the top of my head (my hard drive backups are on random CD-R's after my drive crash and it's been a long time since I've done this). It should NOT be 0 for lines with Japanese text. Might wanna Google that if nobody answers with it. Unicode and ANSI shouldn't really be an issue unless you are saving Notepad documents, from what I remember. Things might go goofy if you copy-paste Japanese text into SSA sometimes. You might want to try a program called Medusa as well. thetenken introduced that program to me a while back. It's pretty much an updated version of SSA with a better layout and it supports more file formats than SSA (SSA is no longer updated). I can do both because I learned on SSA a few years ago, but Medusa might be easier for beginners and it's less quirky.

It might help you to (if you haven't done so already) to define font styles in SSA. You go to Styles>Define. Set up some styles and use 1 separate 1 for your Japanese lines so you can separately choose Japanese in the script setting. It's not a big deal, but it might help. That way, you can just select the style you like for each Japanese line you have rather than doing it individually each time. See here:

See how under the script drop menu that Japanese is selected? Also, the font is Mincho, which is a common Japanese font. Some fonts won't offer the option to select Japanese in the script drop menu.

What guideline are you using for encoding? And which plugin in Virtualdub are you using to encode the subs onto the video?

This link might help w/ other tags too:
http://sourceforge.net/docman/display_doc.php?docid=19407&group_id=82303

EDIT: In case it's not clear, Virtualdub is not the problem.....it's how the plugin is reading the script. It has to be tagged (coded) correctly to be read the way you want it to be, so then it can be encoded properly. It seems to me it's a script coding problem.

Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 1:21 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

hello toa all!i also had problems using the virtual dub..and i got this message popped on my screen..can anyone help me to solve this problem..i really appreciate it..thanks

Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 2:48 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

@tikleabubble :
I don't know if the answer was posted (too lazy to read everything). I think I know this error. It's because the VobSub filter for VDub doesn't like Unicode charsets. It only accepts traditionnal ANSI charsets (it depends on the language of your OS).

The only solution I've found to display the subs properly in VDub is to save the ssa file in the SJIS charset. However, I haven't found a real soft which can convert easily from a charset to an other (although it's really easy with Linux KDE or Linux GTK applications). The only soft I've found that can convert like this is Mozilla Thunderbird Big Smile

. Open the SSA file like a mail text file (don't forget to set the line break at 9999), select the SJIS charset and save the message as a textfile. Then you can open this new ssa file with the VDub filter VobSub. Don't forget to replace every "ANSI" by "SHIFT-JIS" (you have to do this twice) and select a Japanese font.

I don't think it's clear enough but I hope you'll understand.

@novicebum :
Don't mind this message. Just check the video by looking it (at the end of the video). If the sound is not synced to the video, you may have to perform the message that's written on the error box.

Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 10:15 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

@neon, thanks for the tips! I found the code for japanese (128) and the subs showed up, but instead of Japanese I get questionmarks.

I think the problem is like Le Piaf said, virtual dub doesn't accept unicode, only ANSI. Well I'll try changing that now. thanks everyone!

Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 10:26 pm Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Hmm... haven't seen this one pop up. There's at least 3 or 4 different subtitle filters for VDubMod, though I have never tested them for any Eastern language fonts. Have you tried the VobSub Vdub filter?

Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2005 3:25 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2005 4:57 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

It's question marks in both the encoding and the preview box...I already changed the encoding to shitJIS and fe/128 override, but it still doesn't work. I saved it as ANSI, since unicode doesnt work.
Anyway, here's what I'm at now:

[Script Info]
; Sub Station Alpha v4 script.
; ---------------------------------------
; Generated with SUB2SSA v2.0

Title: Handoku 001.srt
Original Script: SUB2SSA
ScriptType: v4.00
Collisions: Normal

[V4 Styles]
Format: Name, Fontname, Fontsize, PrimaryColour, SecondaryColour, TertiaryColour, BackColour, Bold, Italic, BorderStyle, Outline, Shadow, Alignment, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, AlphaLevel, Encoding
Style: ShiftJIS,MS Gothic,26,&HF2F7A4,&HF2F7A4,&HF2F7A4,0,0,0,1,2,4,5,16,16,16,0,128

[Events]
Format: Marked, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text

Dialogue: Marked=0,0:11:26.67,0:11:29.52,ShiftJIS,,0000,0000,0000,!Effect,{\a2}{\fs22}{\fe128}{\b2}{\i0}{\c&FEF5C7} {\fnArial}?????????????
Dialogue: Marked=0,0:11:30.01,0:11:32.92,ShiftJIS,,0000,0000,0000,!Effect,{\a2}{\fs22}{\fe128}{\b2}{\i0}{\c&FEF5C7} {\fnArial}?????????????
Dialogue: Marked=0,0:11:33.33,0:11:36.61,ShiftJIS,,0000,0000,0000,!Effect,{\a2}{\fs22}{\fe128}{\b2}{\i0}{\c&FEF5C7} {\fnArial}??????????????
Dialogue: Marked=0,0:11:39.89,0:11:43.44,ShiftJIS,,0000,0000,0000,!Effect,{\a2}{\fs22}{\fe128}{\b2}{\i0}{\c&FEF5C7} {\fnArial}?????????
Dialogue: Marked=0,0:11:43.44,0:11:46.56,ShiftJIS,,0000,0000,0000,!Effect,{\a2}{\fs22}{\fe128}{\b2}{\i0}{\c&FEF5C7} {\fnArial}???????????
Dialogue: Marked=0,0:11:47.16,0:11:52.03,ShiftJIS,,0000,0000,0000,!Effect,{\a2}{\fs22}{\fe128}{\b2}{\i0}{\c&FEF5C7} {\fnArial}??????????ROLLING STONE
Dialogue: Marked=0,0:11:52.49,0:12:00.85,ShiftJIS,,0000,0000,0000,!Effect,{\a2}{\fs22}{\fe128}{\b2}{\i0}{\c&FEF5C7} {\fnArial}??????????? ?????
Dialogue: Marked=0,0:12:00.85,0:12:08.99,ShiftJIS,,0000,0000,0000,!Effect,{\a2}{\fs22}{\fe128}{\b2}{\i0}{\c&FEF5C7} {\fnArial}?????? ?????????
Dialogue: Marked=0,0:12:09.52,0:12:16.49,ShiftJIS,,0000,0000,0000,!Effect,{\a2}{\fs22}{\fe128}{\b2}{\i0}{\c&FEF5C7} {\fnArial}DOCTOR???? ???????????
Dialogue: Marked=0,0:12:16.75,0:12:23.80,ShiftJIS,,0000,0000,0000,!Effect,{\a2}{\fs22}{\fe128}{\b2}{\i0}{\c&FEF5C7} {\fnArial}?????? ???? ???????
Dialogue: Marked=0,0:12:24.08,0:12:30.32,ShiftJIS,,0000,0000,0000,!Effect,{\a2}{\fs22}{\fe128}{\b2}{\i0}{\c&FEF5C7} {\fnArial}?? ??? ?????????????
Dialogue: Marked=0,0:12:30.49,0:12:37.62,ShiftJIS,,0000,0000,0000,!Effect,{\a2}{\fs22}{\fe128}{\b2}{\i0}{\c&FEF5C7} {\fnArial}?????? ????????????

I'm like on the verge of giving up now, I mean what more do I have to change.. garr this stuff is waay to complicated! Well I guess kanji is just eyecandy since I can't understand any of it anyways....(excuses excuses)

Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2005 5:08 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

^Since you can't read it, you aren't typing it? O_o Erm, could you possibly be copy-pasting from a unicode (or any non shift-jis) source? I forget if that's an issue, but maybe.....

I still see Arial in there. Are you overriding the whole thing with the MS Gothic?

Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2005 5:08 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

Oh yeah I just downloaded version 1.6.11 of virtual dub and the Divx codec is not on the compression list. How can I add it to the list?

Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2005 5:12 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

I have opened the ssa file in notepad, then put the {\fe128} tag, then save and open in SSA. Just had to do that and it works for me. cheers

Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2005 5:16 am Post subject: Post Rating: 0

oh it works on notepad? ok I'll try that then, but I swear this is the last straw, I spent way too much time on this. If I don't get it by like today then I'm going to wait till the next eps. (yeah I'm lazy lol)